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03880.51975/4961117.3
Case No. 3:12-CV-04099-SIZYNGA'S ANSWER AND DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL
QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART & SULLIVAN, LLPClaude M. Stern (Bar No. 96737)claudestern@quinnemanuel.comKarin Kramer (Bar No. 87346)karinkramer@quinnemanuel.com555 Twin Dolphin Drive, 5
th
FloorRedwood Shores, California 94065-2139Telephone: (650) 801-5000Facsimile: (650) 801-5100PAUL HASTINGS LLPBradford K. Newman (Bar No. 178902)bradfordnewman@paulhastings.comPeter C. Meier (Bar No. 179019)petermeier@paulhastings.com1117 S. California AvenuePalo Alto, CA 94304-1106Telephone: (650) 320-1800Facsimile: (650) 320-1900Attorneys for Defendant/Counterclaimant Zynga Inc.UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTNORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIASAN FRANCISCO DIVISIONELECTRONIC ARTS INC.,Plaintiff,vs.ZYNGA INC.,Defendant.CASE NO. 3:12-CV-04099-SI
ZYNGA'S ANSWER AND DEMAND FORJURY TRIAL
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03880.51975/4961117.3
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Case No. 3:12-CV-04099-SIZYNGA'S ANSWER AND DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL
Zynga Inc. (“Zynga”) herein answers Electronic Arts Inc.’s (“EA”) Complaint:
NATURE OF THE ACTION
The paragraph numbers below correspond to and answer those in EA’s Complaint. Foreach paragraph, if an allegation is not explicitly admitted, it is denied.1.
Zynga denies the allegations of Paragraph 1 of the Complaint and further states:The two games at issue in EA’s Complaint, Zynga’s
The Ville
and EA’s
The Sims Social
,
belong to a longstanding and well-developed genre known as “life simulation” games. No one,including EA, may lay claim to the exclusive right to develop and release games in that genre, orto employ the common modes of expression and functional elements that must of necessity beused in the genre and that have come to characterize it. Such elements of game design and gameplay are not original to EA and are not protectable under the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §102,
et.seq
.EA did not invent the genre. Fifteen years before EA released its first life simulationconsole game,
The Sims
, Activision released
Little Computer People
. It was followed by
Tenshitachi no gogo, Girls Garden,
and others, all released years before
The Sims
. Will Wright,creator of
The Sims
, acknowledged that he had played
Little Computer People
and been influencedby it.Zynga is recognized as the leader in social gaming, as opposed to historic console or PCgaming, and is the company that brought the life simulation genre to Facebook. Zynga’s
YoVille
,released in 2008, three years
before
The Sims Social,
was the first commercially viable lifesimulation game on Facebook.
YoVille
allowed players to: customize a virtual avatar by selectingits skin color, facial features, hair color, hair style, and clothing; decorate and arrange furniturewithin a virtual home; work a virtual job; and socialize with other players by visiting them andsending them virtual gifts.In other words, it was Activision—not EA—that first developed the ideas found in
TheSims Social
, and it was Zynga—not EA—that first brought the concept to Facebook.Zynga is the leading online social gaming company on Facebook.
The Ville
is the mostrecent in Zynga’s history of successful video games in Zynga’s
Ville
game franchise. Zynga
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03880.51975/4961117.3
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Case No. 3:12-CV-04099-SIZYNGA'S ANSWER AND DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL
followed the 2008 release of
YoVille
with
FarmVille
(2009),
Café World
(2009),
FishVille
(2009),
PetVille
(2009),
FrontierVille
(2010),
CityVille (
2010),
CastleVille
(2011), and then
The Ville
inJune 2012. Most of these games are in the life simulation genre.As the screenshots from just three of Zynga’s games show—and contrary to EA’sallegation that
The Ville
copies
The Sims Social—The Ville
continues the evolutionarydevelopment of Zynga’s own lineage:
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